The creators of the Shakespearean canon

Abstract

At the beginning of the 19th century, the classical repertoire concept emerged — as a compulsory program for the theater, claiming cultural status (Moliere — in France, Shakespeare — in England, Ostrovsky, and later Chekhov — in Russia, «Natalka Poltavka» by I. Kotlyarevsky, «The mother of the Ukrainian theater» — in Ukraine).Like in literature, Shakespeare became the Western Canons center of the artistic time, Shakespeare’s plays played a significant role in the scene-canon formation, from which the mainstream of the nineteenth century and later the twentieth century was formed. «Fathers of the Theater» created Canon, or at least the harbinger of directing in that sense how a new profession was perceived in the twentieth century. In view of the fact that only from the 1830s, when Shakespeare’s «discovery» of the European theater took place, the tradition of performing original texts appeared, and not the transformations of national classics works (Moliere in France, Shakespeare in England, etc.), completely different directors — Charles Keane, Ludwig Kronec and Henry Irving — claim to the role of canon creator.Receptions of court theaters under the guidance of Charles Keane (England) and Ludwig Kronec (Meininger) was laid in the basis of the canon.However, in each case, the segments of the Canon chosen by the artists considerably differed from each other. The Meininger artists following Keane based their work on archaeological finds and historical painting; Andre Antoine moved to the present historical painting technique, significantly brutalizing it; Stanislavsky, imitating the Meininger artists receptions, poeticized them and transferred to life observation; Ukrainian Coryphaeus, «our Meininger artists» enriched the Canon with melodramatic and folklore elements.However, this canon did not have a relation with the Shakespearean theater. The attitude of the Shakespearean theater was more in the reception offered by Ariana Mnushkina, who performed the production of the Shakespearean triptych («Richard II» and «Twelfth Night» — 1981; Henry IV — 1983) according to the canons of the Eastern Theater: tragedies — in Kabuki’s techniques, comedies — in techniques of Katakali; that means beyond psychological motivation, in dotted line.